Wonderland

PUBLISHED BY

NZ 2025 / The Cuba Press

Wonderland is the latest novel by Tracy Farr, published by The Cuba Press.

Here is a story. We can tell it to you. We saw it with our own six eyes. We heard it with our own six shell-like ears. We held it in our own six hands, so we can tell you (oh yes!).

The start of this story is the day the Lady came.

No, the start of this story is the start of us, and Wonderland.

Te Motu Kairangi Miramar Peninsula, Wellington 1912

Doctor Matti Loverock spends her days and nights bringing babies into the world, which means her daughters – seven-year-old triplets Ada, Oona and Hanna – have grown up at Wonderland, the once-thriving amusement park owned by their father, Charlie.

Then a grieving woman arrives to stay from the other side of the world, in pain and incognito, fleeing scandal. She ignites the triplets’ curiosity and brings work for Matti, diverting them all from what is really happening at Wonderland.

In a bold reimagining, Marie Curie – famous for her work on radioactivity – comes to Aotearoa and discovers both solace and wonder.

Reviews

Spinoff People (FK)

Wonderland by Tracy Farr is my very best novel of 2025. … it’s a lyrical, page turning tour de force.

– Fiona Kidman in The Spinoff‘s ‘Best Books of 2025: The People’s Choice’

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Spinoff A to Z (Carole Beu)

What a wonder this novel is! … Utterly original and life-affirming, this novel shines, like Curie’s radium.

– Carole Beu (The Women’s Bookshop) in ‘An A to Z of The Spinoff’s Best Books of 2025’

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Paula Morris Listener

Every page is artful. Wonderland’s narrative voices are distinct and its central lie – Curie’s incognito visit – is utterly persuasive … Farr makes the fantastical seem plausible and everyday objects – a stick, a bottle, faded shreds of ribbon – conveyors of magic.

– Paula Morris reviews Wonderland in Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books

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FK What I’m reading

Wonderland … is set very close to where we both happen to live, positioned in a real life amusement park that once flourished near Miramar in the early 20th century. I am filled with wild and savage envy, as Angela Carter once wrote about a fellow writer’s new book, that I hadn’t thought of this first. … It’s a masterpiece.

– Fiona Kidman, What I’m Reading, on Wonderland

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RNZ review

… lovely, brief sections of narrative … build a kind of momentum and produce this kaleidoscope of perspectives which reflect and refract, skip along, their thoughts very much inside their heads – but it’s also very much a novel of place … and it’s a lovely tip to Wellington, to its sea and its sky, its hills and its weather.

– Louise O’Brien reviews Wonderland on RNZ

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Kete

Wonderland is a novel that honours the resilience of women, the intricacies of sisterhood and the bittersweet beauty of change. Farr deftly explores innocence and loss, and in giving us a story that asks ‘what-if’, shows the power of imagination to reframe the past and reminds us to return humanity to those who have become characters of history.

– Lauren Donald reviews Wonderland for Kete

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NZ Booklovers

Farr’s writing is magical, lyrical and mesmerising. … Wonderland was a surprise read for me, a slow burn that kept working its way under my skin and has stuck with me long after I read the final pages. A real wonder.

– Rebekah Lyell reviews Wonderland for NZ Booklovers

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Solomon Prize judges

Wonderland stood out for its sheer originality and the lyricism of its writing, which transported us while we read and stayed with us after we’d finished. It’s an absolute delight.

– NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize judges, 2024

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Interviews, news, reviews

Wonderland longlisted for 2026 Ockhams

Wonderland is one of ten books longlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction in the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Find out more

Roundup of reviews

Here’s what writers and reviewers are saying about Wonderland. Find out more

Audio – Author interview for Bookenz, Best of 2025: Tracy Farr

Tracy was interviewed about Wonderland in mid-2025 by Morrin Rout for Bookenz on PlainsFM. The interview was replayed in January 2026 as part of the Bookenz best of 2025 summer series. The ‘best of’ episode also features interviews with Dominic Hoey and Gina Butson. Listen to the episode online here, or you can listen to and follow Bookenz on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Audio – Author interview for RadioActiveFM: Tracy Farr

Tracy’s first radio interview for Wonderland was – fittingly, for a novel featuring Marie Curie – at RadioActiveFM for Caffeine+Aspirin, with Tanya Ashcroft. The interview is now up on Wellington City Library website.

Audio – Catherine Robertson on Wonderland

Catherine Robertson lavishes love on Wonderland in the Book Critic spot with Jesse Mulligan on RNZ Afternoons.

Q&A with Tracy Farr – The Hope Fault, and the origins of Wonderland

Ahead of the US release of The Hope Fault, writer, editor, book blogger and ex-journalist Deborah Kalb asked Tracy to answer some questions about the novel. Deborah asked Tracy about her writing process, long-lost manuscripts, where characters come from, endings – and why Tracy’s next novel (the 2025-published Wonderland) is about triplets. Read Q&A with Tracy Farr